Congratulations! You made it! You survived and excelled in your student teaching. You are now a science teacher! If you would, take a few minutes to share your wisdom about how to negotiate this difficult year with the students who are following in your footsteps by answering the following questions.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
1) Get overly involved with your observations in the fall of the classes you will be teaching in the spring. If you already know all students names, understand the dynamics, and have given quite a bit of facetime in the class it will make the transition from showing up weekly to showing up daily much easier. It will also give you more time to work with students and build up a profile so that they trust and respect you before you really get into the heart of teaching. Although you may want to just do the minimum and get by in the fall because you are going to be devoting an entire semester to it in the spring, go above and beyond what is required and make your mark at your school! Its not just for co-workers and the students, but it is for you as well.
2) Acutally compelte your major unit plan to the best of your ability, and CONFIRM with your CT that you will actually be teaching that material. If you are not spending every waking minute trying to complete unit plans when you are student teaching you will be able to get involved in more or different ways. So, do your work ahead of time and then enjoy those few weeks that are pre planned in the spring. What you have to do in the fall may seem overwhelming because you are balancing it with other classes, but I promise, it is nowhere near as challenging as your spring semester, so find the time!
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
UNIT PLAN
Also, really take the time to develop the disciplinary aspect of your teaching rationale. You need to know how you are going to deal with different situations you may face ahead of time so that you surely handle them properly when they do (not if - when) come up...because they will no matter what school you are at. Work on the demeanor you would like to have in front of the class and start observing how your CT handles different situations in the fall.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have been better prepared for student teaching if I had ...."
Spent more time in the school and in the classroom more specifically
Rested when I had the opportunity (also taken vitamins)
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
Do not just go in and work, teach and leave. The most rewarding part of teaching is the personal relationships that you get out of it, and as a student teacher, you should be able to enjoy that aspect too. When students reach out, reach back and give them that personal relationship that they need so much in the school. Reach out to students you judge that you can help, you will know who you feel comfortable doing that with when you see them. Be memorable, but also be yourself because they can smell a fake or phoney adult a mile away. Do not stare at papers, grades, white boards or computers so long that you forget to look up and see the faces of the students that you are impacting.
a. What are some things students should do in their fall practicum to make their student teaching go more smoothly?
1) Get overly involved with your observations in the fall of the classes you will be teaching in the spring. If you already know all students names, understand the dynamics, and have given quite a bit of facetime in the class it will make the transition from showing up weekly to showing up daily much easier. It will also give you more time to work with students and build up a profile so that they trust and respect you before you really get into the heart of teaching. Although you may want to just do the minimum and get by in the fall because you are going to be devoting an entire semester to it in the spring, go above and beyond what is required and make your mark at your school! Its not just for co-workers and the students, but it is for you as well.
2) Acutally compelte your major unit plan to the best of your ability, and CONFIRM with your CT that you will actually be teaching that material. If you are not spending every waking minute trying to complete unit plans when you are student teaching you will be able to get involved in more or different ways. So, do your work ahead of time and then enjoy those few weeks that are pre planned in the spring. What you have to do in the fall may seem overwhelming because you are balancing it with other classes, but I promise, it is nowhere near as challenging as your spring semester, so find the time!
b. What 430 topics/assignments should students make sure are addressed in detail to prepare them for student teaching?
UNIT PLAN
Also, really take the time to develop the disciplinary aspect of your teaching rationale. You need to know how you are going to deal with different situations you may face ahead of time so that you surely handle them properly when they do (not if - when) come up...because they will no matter what school you are at. Work on the demeanor you would like to have in front of the class and start observing how your CT handles different situations in the fall.
c. Help the next group of science education student teachers by completing the thought: "If I knew in September what I know now, I could have been better prepared for student teaching if I had ...."
Spent more time in the school and in the classroom more specifically
Rested when I had the opportunity (also taken vitamins)
d. Are there other words of wisdom/encouragement that you want to share?
Do not just go in and work, teach and leave. The most rewarding part of teaching is the personal relationships that you get out of it, and as a student teacher, you should be able to enjoy that aspect too. When students reach out, reach back and give them that personal relationship that they need so much in the school. Reach out to students you judge that you can help, you will know who you feel comfortable doing that with when you see them. Be memorable, but also be yourself because they can smell a fake or phoney adult a mile away. Do not stare at papers, grades, white boards or computers so long that you forget to look up and see the faces of the students that you are impacting.